New Board Induction and Upcoming Programs

Our new board was inducted at our June meeting.  Holly (far left) did a great job announcing our new board.  Starting next to Holly, Carol, treasurer, Kathy, secretary, Catherine, programs, and Jean, president (and queen!).

 
Catherine's last president's challenge was to have us make something from a pre-finished coaster or two.  Lots of lovely projects were presented at the June meeting.

July 16 will be a stitch-in so bring a project and join us for a nice evening of stitching and chatting.

Our August meeting will be on Saturday, August 17. Tricia Johnson from Virginia Beach will be teaching us how to make and complete a Victorian Christmas Crazy Quilt Ornament.  Be sure to bring your program coupon to the July meeting or mail it in to Carol by July 16. There is a choice of 3 shapes and the piecing will be done for you!

 

Our annual member appreciation program will be in September.  Jean will be showing us how to create some free form pulled-work to create an ornament. The program is free but you need to get the program coupon in by August 13 (before the ornament class) so supplies can be ordered.

 

And don't forget our bead group meetings:

July 13th - netted pearl technique
August 10th - Beaded Nutcrackers (peyote stitch)
September 14th - Beaded Nutcrackers continuation and catch-up

Outreach Activities - Spring 2013

Robin Hegner, a teacher at Riverside School, came to our April meeting and presented her with all of our bookmarks! It was an impressive sight to see them all on the table. The school is very happy to have the bookmarks to distribute to the children at the end of this school year. Please continue to bring any finished bookmarks to a meeting as Bookmarks for Literacy is an annual project for EGA. We will be looking for a new group to support for next year, so let me know the name of a school or an adult learning center who would appreciate our handiwork.

Jean has beautifully finished the blackwork handkerchief for Agecroft Hall.

 

The embroidery and goldwork are finished on the coif and it has been hemmed, but the lining is still in the works.

 

But the coif did visit Agecroft Hall when the DC EGA chapter came down to see Agecroft and Virginia House. Hard to believe it has been three years since the coif started and all the hands that have helped get it to this state.



Busy February 2013

Our January Outreach program was rescheduled because of bad weather, so our February has been busy.

We started the month with National Stitch In Public on Feb. 2.  We met at the Short Pump Barnes & Noble and had quite a crowd.  There were lots of different projects and we had quite a few people show interest in our work. 



Carol had been finishing the gold work on the coif, so she brought it to the Stitch In, so we had a few more questions about that.

 

 

Next, we met on Saturday, Feb. 16 for our rescheduled Outreach Program. Diana found some really nice bookmarks online that easily fit a small square of stitching on plastic canvas.  You can see how many of those we were able to finish in just a few hours.  Plus a couple of bookmarks done before the session.  We are well on our way to the 70 bookmarks we need by May.  And the pizza was great!



On Tuesday, Feb. 19, we had the second part of the acorn stumpwork class.  With any luck, somebody will bring their work to the next meeting so we can see how things are going - and get some photos to post.

Speaking of our next meeting, on Tuesday, March 19, fellow member Jennifer Stumpf will present a lecture class on tambour embroidery. If you would like to see some of her work, you can visit her blog at: http://stitchinginthepursuitofhappiness.blogspot.com/

Don't forget March 19 is the sign up deadline if you want to take part in the April 16th retro-embroidery iron-on class.

2012 Holiday Luncheon

As usual, our annual Holiday Luncheon at the Hermitage Club was wonderful. Thanks to everyone who worked to set things up. Everyone enjoyed the measuring gauge favors.  And of course, we all loved the ornament exchange.  It is always so exciting to see all the different techniques and styles that appear from the bags. 

Don't forget, our January program is Bookmarks for Literacy.  Diana will have lots of simple kits for us to work on and FINISH at the meeting.  Please bring in any you have worked on as well.  We are trying to gather 70 stitched bookmarks so all the children in one school can get one.

Tuckahoe Library Exhibit

We were invited to set up an embroidery display at the Tuckhoe Library again this year.  The theme was Holiday Stitching and there were lots of lovely pieces on display in October. Thank you to everyone who lent their work for the display.

Don't forget our meetings for November:

November 10, 2012 BIG Meeting
BIG (Beading Interest Group) will continue to work on our holiday bracelets. Please join us from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at the Twin Hickory Library to learn the technique for this project or work on a project of your own.

November 20, 2012 Meeting
Kathy, our Education Committee Chair, will present From Flax to Linen. This will be a lecture and there will be no cost to attend. We encourage you to bring a piece to stitch on while you listen.

Start of a New Program Year and New Beading Group

Our Program Committee has some very exciting activities set up for us this year.And we have a beading group.  And we will have a lecture in November and our Christmas luncheon is set for December 15.

September 18: Member Appriciation Program. Catherine wil show us how to make cross stitch completely reversible and beautiful on both the front and back of your work. Perfect for projects such as book marks, afghans, collars, table linens, cuffs, and coasters! We will cover how to work cross stitches in any direction and how to hide beginning and ending threads invisibly. Your coaster will be finished with the reversible Four-Sided stitch. We will be working on Zweigart® Biella fabric which is 26 count working over 2 threads.  Here are two of the six designs you can choose from.

October 16th and February 19th: the stumpwork acorn project. We have decided to use two meetings for this project - October and February! Cynthia will facilitate the October meeting where we will focus the class on making the three dimensional acorn and cap. We will be practicing on a larger wooden bead than the one in your kit. We will continue with the making of the leaves in our February class. Please feel free to bring your project to other monthly meetings. We will be available to help you during the time period prior to the start of the chapter meeting.

March 19th:a lecture class on the art form of tambour embroidery with member Jennifer Stumpf. If you would like to see some of her work, you can visit her blog at: http://stitchinginthepursuitofhappiness.blogspot.com/

April 16th:“Let’s Go Retro” with iron-on transfer embroidery. Won’t this be loads of fun? To the right is just an example of what can be done

May 21st:Victorian beaded embroidery with Merry Susan. We will be doing something similar to the piece below, but it will be done on a printed fabric, not on canvas. This class will be a technique class. You will be able to finish your piece as you like.

 

 

We now have a Beading Interest Group (BIG) in our EGA chaper.  The group started with these lovely scissor fobs.  At the next meetings, on October 13 and November 20 the Beading Interest Group (BIG) will continue to work on our holiday bracelet. THey will explore the peyote stitch with the two-drop variation. The meeting is held from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at the Twin Hickory Library.

Here is the group in the Twin Hickory meeting room.

 

 

We are always happy to see visitors and new members.  You don't need to be an expert embroiderer, you just need to enjoy doing needlework.  Please see our website in the links to the side for more information.







Goldwork and Stitching in Public

We started our year with a program to support our Agecroft Hall Coif outreach project.  The silk embroidery is nearly done so the goldwork tendrils and highlights are next.  There was no specific project for the outreach class, just a chance for everyone to play around with various goldwork stitches.  Everyone received some linen, a needle, and some #8 Kreinik braid to play with.  But there were also notebooks and samples of lots of different types of gold and metallic thread were given out so everyone could see the wide range of threads available.  We discussed how to use gold threads, using metallic threads to highlight projects, and some of the ways gold was used in older embroideries, like the coif. 

February 4th was Stitch-in-Public Day and a group of our members met at the Barnes & Noble.  Lots of interest in all the lovely things.  Any excuse to stitch!

Our February program, on Tuesday the 21st, will be the Historic Sampler Study Box from EGA.  Hope to see you there.